WEST LAFAYETTE — Go back a few years—not so many, really—and Chet Holmgren would have been considered a very different kind of basketball player.

Plenty of college basketball prospects weigh around 170 pounds as sophomores. Most of them, however, aren't in the 7-foot conversation. A pipe cleaner-like build is the first thing many people notice about Holmgren, the promising Class of 2021 forward from Minneapolis' Minnehaha Academy.

Then they watch him run the floor, handle the ball and shoot from the perimeter with uncommon flow for his age and rapid growth rate. Holmgren, who picked up an offer from Purdue after attending its Elite Camp last Saturday, comes along as basketball coaches reconsider what a 7-footer can be.

"The game is changing," said Holmgren, who also holds offers from Minnesota and Texas A&M. "There’s no back-to-the basket anymore. Everybody has to be able to handle the ball and shoot."

Holmgren showed he can do both against the other prospects in the France A. Cordova Recreational Sports Center. He's always been tall—6-4 in the eighth grade, per his high school coach, Lance Johnson. Holmgren said even his earliest coaches didn't put him on the block, pushing him instead to develop his ball skills and jump shooting.

Then came the growth spurt many basketball players dream of—seven inches in under two years. (Holmgren's Twitter bio lists himself at 6-11, but Purdue measured him above 7 feet at the camp.) Fortunately for Holmgren that spike came without major coordination issues.

Now he must develop the interior skills expected of someone with his uncommon height.

"It’s the age of the stretch 4," said Johnson, who told Holmgren to watch videos of Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki. "Everybody salivates over a 7-footer who can shoot 3s. Most of those 4s also have some post moves and back-to-the-basket stuff and can mix it up."

Holmgren has one traditional big-man skill down. Johnson said be blocked 15 shots in one game last season, among other double-digit efforts. He's an instinctive rim protector who can keep rejections in play rather than simply swatting them out of bounds.

Away from the basket, Holmgren's intelligence helps him use his length and find angles for positioning. He ask takes an intelligent approach to that weight issue. While he'll need to fill out to succeed at the next level, Holmgren doesn't want to add bulk for bulk's sake.

"I want to be able to carry the weight that I have," Holmgren said. "I want to put on a lot of lean muscle—work on my legs and core especially to help me with that strength. I don’t want to get too heavy because it slows you down."

Holmgren and his father made the eight-hour drive down from Minneapolis last Friday night. Before they hit the road again Saturday afternoon, Boilermaker assistant Brandon Brantley gave the big man a quick tour of campus, which culminated in a scholarship offer.

Before that moment, before he'd even left Minneapolis, Holmgren had decided the drive was worth it.

"I felt it was a great opportunity for me to showcase my skills at a high level," Holmgren said. "Purdue is a very prestigious college both academically and athletically.

"I really like how they develop their big dudes. They let them play their game."

Big men such as Holmgren can redefine what that last phrase means.

Nathan Baird reports on Purdue men's basketball. Contact him at 765-420-5234 or nbaird@jconline.com. Follow him on Twitter: @nbairdjc